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American Literature Journals
Please share your experiences working with these journals! Feel free to add other journals to the list. Try to stick with this format: each journal should be separated by dashes, and responses under each journal should each have their own bullet. Back to Literary Studies Journals ---- ''American Literary History'' *Desk rejection after 6 weeks with brief suggestions. *"Reject and resubmit" after 3 months. I sent back extensively revised version 6 months later. "Accept with Revisions" after 6 months with 1 month to do revisions. *Desk rejected after a couple of weeks. They praised the article, but said it did not fit the journal. ---- ''American Literary Realism'' *My experience with this journal was positive. It was 3 months from submission to acceptance, though it took over a year to see the final product in print. Still, it was my most painless publishing experience to date. ---- ''American Literature'' *Online system is very nice for keeping track of progress, great experience overall. 4-6 weeks with editor, 5 months with two readers (one beyond generous with suggestions and references), 3 months for me to turn around R&R, another 4 months for second reading (then further minor suggestions), publication 1 year after decision. *Submitted March 2010; approximately a month later received a very kind, positive review, but a rejection of the article on the grounds that it was not broad enough in scope. Editor sent suggestions of alternative venues. ---- ''American Quarterly'' * ---- ''American Studies'' *Wretched experience. After four months I inquired and was told all was well. After six months, I inquired and was informed that one reader had dropped out. Promised readers reports and a decision next month. After multiple (unanswered) inquiries, finally got a decision four months later. Terrible communications--never again. ---- ''Arizona Quarterly'' *In my experience, journal is very responsive and quick. Hadn't heard anything within three months, sent an inquiry, and the journal prodded the reader to hurry up; received an acceptance several weeks later. *I had exactly the opposite experience with Arizona Quarterly in 2009. They sat on my submission for 5.5 months and finally when I sent them a reminder, they took another month to get back with a 1-line desk rejection. I think it is unethical for a journal to be taking 6.5 months to send out a desk rejection. I believe the paper I sent in wasn't too bad either, given that it got accepted by a reputed journal from Duke UP within 6 months. *My essay was under review for over six months before I contacted them, though my essay was accepted for publication as is. Overall, it has taken three years since submission for the thing to finally see the light of day. ---- ''Early American Literature'' * ---- ''Edgar Allan Poe Review'' *Now with The Pennsylvania State University Press ---- ''European Journal of American Studies'' *Heard back a year later - article was accepted, but reviewer suggested revisions. Resubmitted a year later (my bad), article coming out about a year and a half after resubmission. ---- ''ESQ: Journal of the American Renaissance'' *Extremely slow. After taking 5 months from submission to my receiving a revise and resubmit (which isn't terrible), they took another 7 full months to review the revised manuscript, despite my being told it would take no more than 8 weeks. I emailed every month and was repeatedly assured I would get word by the end of that month (which happened 5 times). Finally, after deciding the manuscript was simply lost under a pile of other manuscripts, I implied I really needed to send the manuscript elsewhere when I finally received a rejection a few days later. ---- ''Henry James Review'' *Rejection one month after submission. No reasons given. *Revise and resubmit three months after submission (one of the two readers' reports was extremely helpful and constructive); accepted several weeks after resubmission. ---- ''Mississippi Quarterly'' * ---- ''Pynchon Notes'' *I think this journal is dead. I had an article accepted about 3 years ago. The editor retired a year later, and I had only one very brief communication with the new editor. Since then nothing. It looks like the final issue was published 2009. *They have a big backlog (the website lists 2 special issues plus enough articles to fill 2 more issues), but the '2009' journals are backdated: they contain note-length pieces that friends submitted in 2010. It may not be dead, but if you submit anything longer than a short note, it's likely to be Years before it makes print. ---- Robert Frost Review * ---- ''Studies in American Fiction'' *It was wonderful working with this journal. Fast and clear communication was provided at each step of the review process. Initial submission to acceptance was about 4 months (submit/readers/revise/accepted). Certainly a great publication experience. * ---- ''Nathaniel Hawthorne Review'' *My experience with this journal was positive. After about 3 months, I received an R&R with 2 extensive readers' reports, both helpful and constructive. After revising, acceptance came in about 4 months. ----